Full details of Palestinians escaping from an Israeli prison through a tunnel in the cell toilet .. Video
The head of the Israeli Prison Service in the northern region, Arik Yaqoub, said that the six Palestinians who escaped from a high-security Israeli prison, at dawn today, Monday, dug what appeared to be a tunnel in the floor of their cell's toilet to reach the basements that were formed as a result of the prison's construction.
The Israeli police and army launched a search operation after the six escaped from Gilboa prison in northern Israel.
According to Israel's public radio station, Kan, the six were members of armed groups and were together in the same cell, and dug a tunnel outside the prison, where Israeli security forces began a search.
A statement issued by the Prisons Authority stated that the operation was revealed around 3:00 am after a report from residents of "suspicious movements" near the high-security Gilboa prison in northern Israel.
The Israeli public radio Kan reported that six Palestinians, who are members of armed Palestinian factions, escaped from the Gilboa maximum security prison in northern Israel on Monday.
The Israel Prison Service published photos and videos showing a narrow tunnel dug under a sink in the bathroom of a cell.
A police spokesman said security forces believed the fugitives might be trying to reach the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule, or to the Jordanian border, about 14 kilometers to the east.
The escape comes hours before the start of the Hebrew New Year celebrations at sunset on Monday.
Gilboa Prison, about four kilometers from the border with the West Bank, is the most heavily guarded prison in Israel, where the authorities hold Palestinians convicted or suspected of anti-Israel activities, including deadly attacks.
The Prison Authority said that five of the fugitives belonged to the Jihad movement, and the sixth was a former commander of an armed group affiliated with the Fatah movement.
The sixth is Zakaria al-Zubaidi, the former commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of the Fatah movement, who hails from the city of Jenin in the West Bank, and is accused of killing Israelis.
The brigades launched bloody attacks on Israelis during the Palestinian uprising from 2000 to 2005.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club stated that four of the six fugitives were serving life sentences.
A senior Israeli security official said that the prisoners' escape is "a series of very serious failures. How did they dug under the nose of the warders in one of the most guarded prisons in the country? It is no coincidence that they chose Zubeidi prison there. Not even a spoon can be carried in the cell. How did they drill? It is forbidden to enter Metals into the cell, where did the dirt disappear? How did they talk from cell phones in the prison? The whole security apparatus was mobilized to chase them."
Israeli media reported that the prisoners' escape began at 01:30 after midnight last night, and at 03:00, citizens reported that they had seen "suspicious people" near the prison.
The Prison Service said in a statement that "upon receiving the initial report, special forces were mobilized in the Prison Service from the Masada unit and police units, along with the Border Police, the Israeli army, which began search operations in cooperation with the Shin Bet."
The prison authority describes the six prisoners as "high risk", and three of them described the possibility of escaping from prison as high.
Israeli media said that the fear now is that the six prisoners, including people who carried out operations, will try to carry out operations and flee from Israel.
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Through a tunnel, 6 Palestinian detainees, including a former military commander, escaped from an Israeli prison
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